DOUG LAING A prominent Napier Marine Parade site formerly occupied by a Pizza Hut restaurant and vacant for about four years, is expected to be occupied by a new 41-unit hotel by the end of this year. The three-level hotel, named Nautilus, is being developed by Tauranga company Garoo Ltd and builtby Hawke's Bay's Mackersey Construction. Last week builders moved onto the site on the corner of Marine Parade and Sale Street. Mackersey project manager Ken Hemara said it was hoped to have the project, including a restaurant/bar and parking for 35 vehicles, finished before Christmas. It will extend to Hastings Street, taking up the site now occupied by the Napier Family Centre's ABC 4 Kids childcare facility. ABC is relocating to larger premises being built on Barker Road, Marewa. Nautilus'design is in keeping with the Art Deco style, similar to the Pebble Beach hotel south of Sale Street. Hotel-motel projects in Napier City have put hundreds of new beds on the Marine Parade market in the past 10 years. The Nautilus' 41 units will take to 145 the total number in the block, bounded by Marine Parade, Sale, Hastings and Edwardes streets. The Edgewater Motor Lodge boasts 20 units, the Beachfront Motel 46 and the Shoreline Motel 38. Since the end of the 1980s, the block has been almost completely redeveloped. The only longer-standing occupants are on three corner sites - Continental Fish Supplies, Arkwrights Corner Store on Hastings Street, and a house on the corner of Marine Parade and Edwardes Street.
